In partnership with Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is spearheading the three-year Empowering Women and Girls (EWG) project. This project aims to improve the realisation of human rights for women and girls including persons with disabilities (PWDs) from rural, remote, and underprivileged communities in selected areas of five Commonwealth Member States: Bangladesh, Malawi, Mozambique, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The project focuses on empowering women and girls through strategic interventions to advance their educational attainment and skills development, increase their economic participation and improve their health and well-being, which will in turn lead to sustainable social transformation. The goal is to ensure that women and girls can assert their equal rights, live a life of dignity, and be free from all forms of gender-based discrimination.

Women and girls with all forms of disabilities (for example, impaired vision, impaired hearing, mobility issues or intellectual disability) will be included, and the specific needs and barriers associated with their particular disabilities will be addressed. The project team will also work with men, boys and community leaders to garner broad-based support for the empowerment of women and girls and their role as full socio-economic contributors to their families and communities.

The Empowering Women and Girls project takes a holistic approach, integrating interventions at multiple levels — individual, household, community, and societal. It achieves this by developing strategic partnerships with grassroots community organisations and actively involving various stakeholders.

A major aim of the project is to create a safe learning environment that gives women and girls, including PWDs, access to education and employment opportunities. Our community partners play a key role in this aim. They collaborate to help the project participants build and strengthen their capabilities, skills and knowledge, which in turn will help them become economically independent and contribute to the growth of their communities. The collaborative nature of the project reflects our commitment to gender equality and social inclusion.

The Empowering Women and Girls project works with a variety of community partners, all dedicated to transforming the lives of women and girls. We invite you to connect with us through our community of practice, online events, and social media platforms. Your engagement is vital to our collective mission, and we look forward to fostering a dynamic and productive dialogue.